


the softness that betrays you

by theprincessed



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 05:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5899540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincessed/pseuds/theprincessed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robert goes to his parents' gravesides and shows a slightly more vulnerable side of his personality to a new visitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the softness that betrays you

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! New Robron fan. :) I won't bore you with the details of how I got to this point, but I felt like I had to write _something_ after binge-watching on Youtube, so here I am. I'm not entirely sure what this is, I wrote it to go with something bigger, that got scrapped but I couldn't seem to let this scene go, so you get to have it as me saying hello. This is now mainly just slightly sad Robert for the hell of it, oops. I love him really! Think I'm just trying to find their voices and I have a lot of Robert feels apparently (he's been a sudden revelation for me; I've been a long time Aaron fan).
> 
> Hope you enjoy (you know what I mean) x

Coming to a slow stop in the cemetery, Robert switches off the car engine and lets out a long breath he had held locked up tight in his chest since that morning when he'd agreed to do this under Victoria's encouragement. Although, truth be told, it was Aaron who had actually convinced him. When did he not? It was never terribly proactive on Aaron's part, more a surly nod to making the right decision, but he was inescapable for Robert as much as vice versa was true, in each other's hearts and heads until they gave in. This was an odd situation, but maybe a good one too.

After several minutes have ticked by, there's a heavy knock on the car window. Robert tries to frown, but feels like his face is instantly failing him as he sees who's waiting outside. He clears his throat, aiming for gruff, as he lowers the window. “Oi watch it,” he reprimands, “those clumsy fists of yours could probably break through glass too, y'know,”

“Are you gonna do this then or what?” Aaron mumbles, perfectly gruff. Damn it.

“Or what?” he shoots back then grins a little as Aaron opens his mouth, falling for the quip, before he rolls his eyes at him. Robert leans over and flicks the handle of the passenger side door. “Get in.”

“Robert - ”

“Why do you always have to have the last word?” he huffs, interrupting.

“Why are you always such a hypocrite?” Aaron retorts, but slides into the car nonetheless.

Robert smiles. “Touché.” 

It's an overcast day, the clouds turning a darker grey in shifting patches, but even rain can't stop this. He couldn't bear the disappointment on Victoria's face if he admitted that he'd called it off, wondering when the prospect of lying to his sister began to sit more uncomfortably for him. He was just giving into sibling pressure that's all, as she'd been on at him to come here more than the handful of fraught times he had since he'd returned to the village and even moreso when he and Aaron found their way back to each other again, like this was some sort of normal rite of passage. He hears Aaron sigh beside him, irritated with his silence, and that makes him snort.

“This is weird, right?” he asks, staring down at his hands twisted in his lap.

“If you mean as weird as sitting down with Andy for a pint in the Woolpack as boyfriends...”

Surprised, Robert laughs lightly. “Pretty much, yeah. Maybe even weirder.”

“We don't have to do this.” Robert feels his pulse quicken reflexively, his body shocked as Aaron touches him gently on the forearm, testing. He's been consciously gentle with Aaron in the last few weeks and although he knows Aaron kinda hates it, it's helped Robert show how much he really does care and now seems to be the favour returned.

He shakes his head, suddenly embarrassed, “No, I mean, it's – it's not a big deal, not really.”

“Well then,” Aaron squeezes his shoulder just at the nice side of rough, the Aaron sort of rough that always weakens Robert's resolve. “Let's get this over with.”

It's very blithe, but Robert appreciates it because Aaron's trying to act like the prospect of seeing Robert truly vulnerable isn't scaring him shitless.

Eventually, they get out of the car and start walking along the path, close but not touching. They still aren't that type of boyfriends in public (yet).

The nearer they come to what they're looking for, the more anxious Robert gets and he stops Aaron from stepping onto the grass with a hand to his chest, his movements aborted and fidgety, unsure.

“I don't – I think – this is too weird,”

Aaron's gaze hardens just a little. “If you really didn't want me to come, you could've just said. And, while you're at it, told Vic where to go an' all.” He changes his passive stance of hands in the pockets of his hoodie to taking them out and leaning forward on his toes, a bit more aggressive. “Since when have you been afraid of telling people what you think, eh?”

Robert runs his hand through his hair and turns his head to stare at the headstone a few feet away. “This is different. They're my parents, Aaron,” he admits quietly, as he swallows the sudden lump in his throat and emotions he hasn't felt in forever crawl up to the surface. “And they're not here.”

It's not a secret, what happened to them, but that doesn't make it any less gut-wrenching than when it was new and raw and he feels Aaron tug on the sides of his leather jacket to get his attention, like he's pulling it all out of him. When Robert looks back at him, glossy-eyed and terrifyingly fragile, Aaron is up in his space. “I'm here.” he says fiercely.

“I'm sorry,” Robert croaks, shaking his head and feeling his face crumple, “I just think – this isn't how first meetings with parents should go.”

He breaks from Aaron's hold, but instead of fleeing to his car, he strides towards his parents' combined headstone and comes to a stop in front of it to stare hard at their names, floods of memories burning him up from the inside out. He swipes angrily at the tears sliding down his flushed face with the back of his hand and growls at himself from under his breath at the unfairness of it all. He's finally in a good place, better than ever, and he can't share it with a huge part of his family. _This_ is why he shouldn't have come. It feels like a pointless exercise. It doesn't comfort him like it does for his sister. Instead, it only opens up the decades-old wounds that he tries so hard to bury everyday.

“S'not right,” he hisses, barely resisting the urge to kick at the stone, “Vic's stupid idea, for peace or some other rubbish. What am I supposed to say? 'Hi Mum, Dad. This is my boyfriend, Aaron. Aaron, these are my dead parents'?” he snorts derisively, “Yeah, that doesn't sound weird at all. Pathetic.”

“Hi, Robert's Mum and Dad,” he hears a low voice suddenly say from behind him and he turns his head wildly to stare wide-eyed at Aaron, who looks wary in Robert's presence, but also has his stubborn face on. He didn't think Aaron would stick around after he shrugged him off. Then again, neither of them do know when to leave things well alone. “Your son is very, very annoying.”

He's startled by how natural Aaron sounds, bantering like Robert's parents are standing right in front of them instead of cold, hard stone and rolls his eyes to cover up the shiver that runs through him as Aaron tentatively grasps his hand. “Like you're one to talk,” he mumbles back.

He inhales slowly, puffing himself up to fake the control he doesn't feel at all right now then exhales a deep, steadying breath. “Alright, _fine_. Mum, Dad. This is Aaron, my boyfriend,” Robert looks from them to Aaron and squeezes his hand in his. “And I've fallen in love.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, lovelies x
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [theprincessed](http://www.theprincessed.tumblr.com). :)


End file.
